


your doubt (embitters a fire)

by WithYourRhythm



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Badass Mom, F/M, Fix-It, Future Kazekage Temari, Gen, Kankuro is not with Karura, Secret SANDa 2018, Sunagakure | Hidden Sand Village, now that's what I call badass, that... changes things, when Rasa tells her about sealing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-24 04:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17093762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithYourRhythm/pseuds/WithYourRhythm
Summary: Rasa doesn't look angry. Instead, he looks tired, more than any other time Karura has saw him ever being. She wants to pull her husband close, leave a kiss to his forehead and wish him luck on his work.Not yet, though. First, she has a fight to win, a son to save, a family to build back from ruins.





	your doubt (embitters a fire)

Karura turns her eyes to Temari, and the curiosity in her daughter's eyes are what makes her blood boil. This- she can’t accept this.

 

Years have passed with Karura sitting beside her husband, a warm but distant love burning between them, and Rasa has forgotten who she is. The corpses he found around her the first time they saw each other is not what he thinks when Karura refuses to obey the wishes of her husband anymore, instead, it's a weak, accepting _housewife,_ and she feels rage pooling in her heart for that.

 

Temari shouldn't witness this, and if Kankuro was there too, Karura would keep quiet. But her little son is playing with Yashamaru, and Temari is a true kunoichi in heart, forever a fighter with the scorching heat of desert as her closest companion. She will learn to do what men are afraid of thinking, and she will do it proudly, for the sake of her people instead of a war and the satisfaction of throwing the last punch.

 

She will become the Kazekage her father has forgot to be.

 

“Husband,” Her voice is made of steel, and Karura remembers the kunoichi she used to be, before giving in to her heart and marrying Rasa, “You will think again.”

 

For all the love Karura carries for her husband, she hates how Rasa has lost himself to the war in such a way. Her bright willed lover with an anger like the whirlwinds of Suna, his smile warmer than the sun on her back, has his light dimmed by the spilled blood and piles of corpses.

 

“I will not, Karura.” Rasa doesn't look angry. Instead, he looks tired, more than any other time Karura has saw him ever being. She wants to pull her husband close, leave a kiss to his forehead and wish him luck on his work.

 

Not yet, though. First, she has a fight to win, a son to save, a family to build back from ruins.

 

“You will.” Karura takes a step towards her husband, lifting her chin up defiantly, “You will think again, and change your mind.”

 

He will. She’ll make sure of that.

 

Rasa sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. The bags under his eyes look even worse than the night before this one, and her heart aches.

 

“I can't, and I won't,” He lets his hand fall down to spread them open, “You know that, Karura. Elders wants this problem solved, and there isn't a better way to do this except the obvious choice we have.”

 

Karura snarls, “Like hell I'll let my baby be used for politics! Let them try!” Her killing intent fills the room, “I'll show them what it means to touch my family.”

 

Temari whines beside her, but Karura doesn't back down. She'll be strong, far more than Karura ever will be, and she will need that strength soon. What she's witnessing now will help her grow into a fine kunoichi, a ninja that will have the power to protect her family just like her mother, and Karura can't wish anything other than that for her children except happiness and a long life.

 

Rasa frowns, and for the sake of the unborn child she carries in her womb, Karura does not bow her head to her Kage with submission. Rasa can call her a traitor, can execute her at this instant, but he _won't._ That means something.

 

It has to.

 

“I won't back down on this. Go home, take care of our children, Karura. You have no place in here.” Rasa murmurs softly, and he's right. Karura has no place beside the Kazekage, not as his advisor or a council member. Her place is at their home, but Karura is a _kunoichi._ Her home is never the place she belongs, it's the killer heat of Suna that owns her heart, the harsh wind of night at desert and the never ending sand domes of Kaze no Kuni.

 

Rasa has her heart, but he’s not the only one. First and foremost, Karura belongs to her land. She was born in here, with her feet covered in sand, face burned with killer heat of sun, hot air leaving her mouth dry, and she will not let its protector to be shoved in a cage, in her own _child._

 

She looks into her husband's eyes, and sees his final decision.

 

_How dare he?_

 

Karura lifts her hand and flexes her fingers, a frown decorating her face, her eyes focusing on Temari’s scrunched face. W _atch,_ she thinks, _and learn, daughter._ Then, she lunges forward, and punches Rasa on his nose, a loud crack filling the air.

 

“ _You_ are the one who should learn your place, Rasa.” There’s no satisfaction, no victory in her voice, but she will not let what Rasa intends to do happen. She will not.

 

“Karura-!” Rasa sounds shocked, and he's holding his nose now, blood spilling between his fingers, but Karura smiles proudly, because he _remembers_ who she is. She will make sure that he never forgets it again.

 

“I'll be the jinchuuriki once our child is born, Kazekage-sama.”

 

She catches Temari's hand, not surprised with the approving look on her childish face, and turns back. Her back is straight as she walks out of the room, and she feels the fire in her veins, a pulsing heat in her chest.

 

She may die because of her decision, but she’s a kunoichi of Sand. She’s a mother of two children, a third on the way, and she will protect them.

 

Even from her own stupid husband.


End file.
